October 9 sees the presentation to industry of 8 new German documentary projects, either completed or as works-in-progress and therefore poised for international roll-out.
One of the projects will be awarded the D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize, which will provide post-production services valued at €10,000. “With the project presentation and subsequent opportunity for networking and exchange, we want to support the selected projects on their journey to international distribution and create new working ties,” write organisers.
Moderators are Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer of Elemag Pictures and Julia Teichmann, Head of Documentary at German Films. “The selection in 2023 is creative and diverse both in terms of style and subject, and represents some of Germany’s most exciting documentary talent,” says Teichmann.
DOK Preview Germany selections 2023 (plus edited production notes)
- Angry Spirits by Iris Pakullam. Germany/Mongolia, 90 mins. Ainur, a young mother in Ulaanbaatar, feels haunted. Angry Spirits tells her personal story while connecting it to a larger social malaise. 30% of Mongolia’s people live in poverty. Precariousness, structural inequality, fear, anger and vengeful nature spirits shape this intimate and unusual story. Production company: Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion. Producers: Reinhardt Beetz, Eva Fouquet. Project stage: Post-production. “Director Iris Pakulla works as an anthropologist at Cambridge University. In her film, she creates a unique visual and associative cinematic universe enriched by her research in Mongolia where she spent years, studying the country and its people. Her approach is a documentary, which is combined with staged scenes of Ainur’s dreams. The audience gets a multi-layered insight into Ainur’s psyche and into the interconnectedness and interdependence of life processes.”
- The End of the Road by Marc Eyrich. Germany/Morocco, Qatar.| 80 (60) mins. An inspiring and uplifting documentary that follows the journey of Halim Sbai and Khalil Bou as they fight to save their village, M’Hamid El Ghizlane, from desertification and a lack of water resources by promoting their culture and encouraging education in their community. Production Company: Licht & Stories. Producer: Marc Eyrich. Co-producer: Anas Abdel Amos Geva. Project stage: Production. “Through Halim and Khalil’s personal narratives, The End of the Road explores the delicate balance between tradition and modernity, shedding light on the complexities of preserving heritage in a rapidly evolving world. With the camera as an intimate companion, we bring you closer to their lives, capturing both pivotal moments and quiet, contemplative scenes. As Halim and Khalil fight to save their village, their journey becomes a universal symbol of resilience in the face of environmental adversity.”
- Get Physical by Ilker Abay. Co-director: Miro Wallner. Germany. 90 (110) mins. Get Physical is not just a film but also a process. There are many social and political issues to confront and ways to understand through the body. The Get Physical process invites the audience to feel the sensibilities expressed through the body to discover a possible movement. Producer: Ilker Abay Miro Wallner. Project Stage: Rough cut. “The film touches upon significant social and political issues of our present society. It revolves around the challenges faced by each character as they navigate various political issues during the creation processes of performances including white fragility, racism, decolonial practices, gender equality, and motherhood. The story unfolds on stages where performances take place, in rehearsal spaces, and within an imaginary world, creating a rich and dynamic setting for the narrative. The film blends the boundaries of documentary filmmaking with artistic expression and embodied experiences.”
- Of Coyotes and Those Who Stayed (WT) by Clara Trischler. Germany/Austria. 79 mins. To prevent their village from turning into a ghost town, Mexican residents begin simulating an experience they all know: crossing the border illegally into the United States. They disguise themselves as border police and human traffickers so that paying tourists can feel like migrants for one night. Production Company: HORSE & FRUITS. Producer: Florian Brüning. Co-Producer: Thomas Herberth, Project Stage: Post-production. “A film about the loss of home, identity and family, but one that also casts a perspective on the fact that dreams can change.”
- Johatsu – Into Thin Air (WT) by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori. Germany/Japan. 90 (52) mins. In Japan, people vanish without a trace with the support of so-called “night moving” companies, which help people to disappear from their current lives. Known as the Johatsu, or “the evaporated,” these people leave everything behind to start a new life somewhere else. Production company: Ossa Film. Producer: Andreas Hartmann. Co-producer: Arata Mori, Mori Films. Project stage: Post-production. “’I’m going on a business trip,’ that is what Sugimoto tells his son before he disappears into the urban jungle of Tokyo… With the support of a night-moving company, an Anonymous couple hides day and night from their blackmailing boss in a love hotel in the remote Japanese countryside… Goto is a single mother searching for her missing son, she struggles to get any support from the local police due to Japan’s Data Protection Laws…”
- Ping Pong by Jonas Egert. Germany. 120 mins. A provincial table tennis team, spurred by the recruitment of four world-class players due to the Ukraine conflict fallout, becomes Europe’s top contender. Yet they must prove and establish their standing in a season full of unexpected turns. Production Company: madfilms Cruiziat & Egert. Producer: Sylvain Cruiziat. Project stage: Rough cut. “With an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look into the world of professional table tennis, this observational documentary captures the turbulent season with an insiders perspective from the first-ever game to the eventual collapse of the whole project. A story of unwavering passion for the game amidst a backdrop of interpersonal conflicts, expectations and geopolitical tensions, deftly interweaving triumphs and defeats, successes and setbacks both within the realm of the sport and the players’ personal fate and life decisions.”
- Reproduction by Katharina Pethke. Germany. 126 (110) mins. Returning to her job at the art academy after giving birth, the filmmaker is confronted with the ideals of motherhood and art. They don’t go together, her mother says, fuelling an old conflict: ideals of the 1950s intertwine with revolutionary ideas of the 1970s and lead to the neoliberal present. Production Company: Fünferfilm. Producer: Julia Cöllen, Karsten Krause, Frank Scheuffele. Project stage: Rough cut. “Shortly after taking up her post as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, the filmmaker unexpectedly becomes pregnant. While she is still trying to calmly devote herself to fulfilling both her tasks, she realizes that what makes her an artist is not so easily reconciled with her new role as a mother. The care work stands in her way as much as her idea of a GOOD MOTHER and that of THE ARTIST…In clearly composed cinematic images, the film tells the filmmaker’s very personal story and gradually unravels women’s great conflict between motherhood and self in the field of tension between art and child, woman and work, architecture and society.”
- Women Speaking (WT) by Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin. Germany. 90 mins. A film about six women in the patriarchal society of Albania, about six different life stories and one mutual decision: they give up femininity and live as men to gain a voice, experience personal freedom and fight for equality. And to fulfil their duty being a Burrnesha. Production company: Filmkantine. Producer: Katrin Springer. Project stage: Post-production. “Women Speaking expands the awareness of human life and its universal conditions. The time among the Burrneshas turns stereotypes and projections of gender discussions upside down. But their story shows in the end, that the essences of life, which are also identified as female, are held as less valuable. Even less worth living. And that this remains so, worldwide.”
